Profession seeks prescription for solving pharmacist shortage

Heather Palmer has completed only her first year in pharmacy at Dalhousie University, but unless conditions in the industry change drastically over the next 3 years there will be plenty of jobs waiting when she gets graduates.

In Canada there are currently more than 1000 openings for pharmacists, says Debbie Saltmarche, director of pharmacy for the Canadian Association of Chain Drug Stores. Saltmarche says university enrolment has remained static even though the number of pharmacies has grown by 3% over the past 5 years and the number of prescriptions filled has grown by almost 20% during that time.

In this same period, there has been only a 1% increase in the number of new pharmacists. According to the Canadian Pharmacists Association, the country's 9 schools of pharmacy now graduate about 800 new pharmacists each year. The country has more than 18 000 practising pharmacists

Claudia McKeen, owner of the Glebe Apothecary in Ottawa, attributes the current shortage, at least in part, to the proliferation of pharmacies in supermarkets and other nontraditional areas. For instance, Costco, the giant retailer, opened its first pharmacy in a Canadian outlet this year.

In New Brunswick, the shortage became so severe this summer the Miramichi Regional Hospital stopped accepting new patients requiring chemotherapy because there were not enough pharmacists to prepare their drugs. In July, 20% of hospital pharmacist positions in that province were unfilled.